MOORPARK : Illness Blamed on Chicken Manure

A Moorpark man sparked a five-hour investigation by officials from eight state and county agencies Friday when he became ill after touching a mysterious substance in a creek bed.

But when it was all over, investigators discovered that the milky-white liquid was runoff from chicken manure at an egg ranch north of the site, fire officials said.

Officials from the county Fire Department, a team of hazardous materials investigators, workers from the state Department of Fish and Game and representatives of five other agencies responded to the 8:30 a.m. call of possible contamination in the creek near Grimes Canyon Road west of Moorpark.

The investigation began after Robert Rowton, 50, became nauseated after touching the milky water.

Rowton had been walking his three dogs in the citrus orchards near Grimes Canyon Road when the dogs began to play in the creek, Fire Department spokeswoman Sandi Webb said. Rowton carried one of the dogs out of the water.

“By the time he got home, he was so ill he called the Fire Department,” Webb said. “He complained of lightheadedness. He felt nauseous and just quite ill.”

After the county’s hazardous materials team arrived, Rowton was stripped, washed and sent to Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks for examination, Webb said. His clothes, house and car were sealed off to prevent possible further contamination, Webb said. Animal control workers kept watch on the dogs, none of which became ill.

Hours later, investigators discovered the source of the white substance. Egg City, located in the hills about two miles north of the creek bed, regularly dries out chicken manure from its operation to make fertilizer.

A series of storms last week saturated the hillsides and the 10-acre site where the manure is spread, causing the runoff, Fire Capt. Dean Dysart said.

“It turned out there was no threat,” he said.